This invention relates to a shoe having a flexible or soft shoe upper secured to a socklining and to a method of manufacturing same.
Cementing is now widely used in manufacturing shoes. In the cementing process, an insole is temporarily fixed to a bottom of a last, which is then covered with a shoe upper. The shoe upper is then lasted manually or with a lasting machine to bring the shoe upper into a desired shape. The lasting margin is turned over and secured to the insole with a cement. An outsole is subsequently bonded to the insole with a cement. In this case, the shoe upper is strongly attracted to the last during lasting and, thus, is stretched. Therefore, when detached from the last, the shoe upper is unavoidably and spontaneously reduced in size from the desired shape determined by the last. As a result, the shoe thus obtained fails to effectively adapt to various foot shapes. Accordingly, portions of the foot near the metatarsal tibiale and fibulare are subjected to stresses.
A shoe upper bag-stitching method without using a last has been also adopted, in which a leather upper is fixed to an outsole by stitching. Shoes obtained by this method offer the advantage that the shoe upper has a soft feel. However, since a toe puff is not usable in perfect conditions, the shoe is deformed in use over several months. Further, this method has a drawback in that the appearance lacks sharpness and, therefore, the shoe upper bag-stitching method is seldom used for the fabrication of high fashion shoes.